The LG 27GL850 is currently one of the near popular and hotly requested gaming monitors in the market, only what makes it so special? It is the first IPS monitor that claims to hit TN-level response times. With a rated 1ms response time, theoretically this display should have all the speed advantages of a TN panel, but without the downsides similar poor color functioning, low contrast ratios and weak viewing angles. When you combine that with a 27-inch panel size, 2560 x 1440 resolution and 144 Hz refresh rate with adaptive sync, it's positioned as the perfect monitor for gaming.

Pricing is besides good for what it'south offering. You tin can discover information technology on Amazon right now for $490 which is around the marking of other 1440p 144Hz IPS monitors. That's $150-200 more than VA offerings, but this is a premium monitor with high-end hardware, whereas those VA models are more bang for buck options.

In terms of design, the 27GL850 is very similar to LG'south recent offerings like the 32GK650F that ranked highly in our review earlier this year. Anything in their UltraGear line for gamers will look somewht alike. You go a flat V stand with red highlights and a simple plastic construction. Reasonable bezels, a matte-blackness terminate on both sides -- thankfully no glossy areas -- and like shooting fish in a barrel access to ports on the rear. It'due south a unproblematic, attractive blueprint with no outrageous elements or pointless RGB lighting. We like it.

Interestingly on the front you'll see an Nvidia G-Sync sticker. This isn't a full Thousand-Sync monitor with the hardware module but a standard G-Sync compatible display. This means it supports the VESA Adaptive Sync standard, a.k.a. FreeSync, and then it works fine with both Nvidia and AMD GPUs for variable refresh. We guess the G-Sync branding is but there for marketing purposes.

The stand is very adjustable with a good range of height, tilt, swivel and pivot motion, allowing you to use it in a portrait orientation if yous want to. 2 HDMI and i DisplayPort is a skillful range of connectivity, plus there's an audio output and a two-port USB 3.0 hub.

The on-screen brandish is controlled through a directional toggle and provides good functionally. I'm glad LG has simplified the Adaptive Sync bill of fare into a unmarried toggle pick. There are likewise a few basic game controls like crosshairs and a black stabilizer, though no backlight strobing.

Operation

Permit's kick off performance testing with a look at response times. Obviously this is the key indicate of interest for a monitor with a rated 1ms response. Just for now, this is how the monitor performs with no overdrive. Ordinarily we wouldn't stop to mention much here, merely to achieve a five.88ms grey to grey average with no overdrive any is definitely impressive and a good start for an IPS panel. Normally this number is at to the lowest degree double for an IPS monitor.

Response Times / Overdrive Modes

Moving to Normal is a minor upgrade. We're now at a sub 5ms fourth dimension which is around the ballpark of well-nigh other IPS gaming monitors. And then permit's take things up a notch with a look at the default mode, Fast.

Here's where things really get exciting. A 4.08ms grey to greyness average with very well managed overshoot is extremely impressive from an IPS monitor. Not quite at 1ms however, but the fastest transition is in the 2ms range, and we're getting 100% of transitions falling within the refresh rate window. An boilerplate fault of but two.v%, and no noticeable inverse ghosting, is fantastic for this level of operation.

LG has been a flake… optimistic with claims of a 1ms response time. Using the fastest overdrive mode we recorded a i.72ms average at 144 Hz, and aye, some transitions were as quick as 0.3ms, putting it in the ballpark of the best TN panels. Simply the overshoot in this setting is only insane, an average mistake of 72% is the highest we've recorded, 69% of transitions experienced severe inverse ghosting and to be honest, there is no mode anyone is using the monitor in this way. The abaft looks terrible, information technology'south going to touch on your gaming experience in an unacceptable way.

The merely reason why LG would include such a mode is so they tin can advertise a 1ms grey to grey response time. We don't tend to believe response time figures reported by manufacturers – fifty-fifty TN panels aren't actually 1ms well-nigh of the time – simply this is a peculiarly bad example of "not being a 1ms monitor" in all but a technicality. You lot're but not going to employ the 1ms mode or get 1ms level performance.

With that said, we won't take away from what is otherwise a fantastic IPS console from a response time standpoint. Absolutely nosotros oasis't put many gaming IPS panels through our new exam suite, only of those we accept tested, it'south the fastest. Information technology'south besides faster than anything we tested using the former benchmark suite. The adjacent fastest IPS monitor, the LG 34GK950F, is more than 1ms slower and has a higher error charge per unit. Y'all tin come across hither that the 27GL850 is right near the superlative in terms of mistake performance, which is what we dearest to encounter when paired with a fast response time.

Notwithstanding, we wouldn't say the 27GL850 is equivalent to the best TNs. The Gigabyte KD25F, 1 of the latest 24-inch 1080p 240Hz TN monitors, is 1ms faster than the LG and has ameliorate mistake functioning. So there is yet an edge to be gained from going high-end TN. But when you look at other TNs like the 27-inch 1440p 144Hz version in the Viotek GFT27DB, which is i of the best TNs out there, the LG 27GL850 is offering nearly identical functioning, merely in an IPS package, so it's not crazy to say the 27GL850 in general has "TN-like" performance.

It'southward besides important to look at the night level average. This is where IPS and TN monitors accept a big advantage over their VA brethren. The LG 27GL850 sits hither with a 4.27ms average, which is very similar to its overall average. Meanwhile, the MSI MPG341CQR for example, which had an boilerplate response fourth dimension only half a millisecond slower than the LG, is much slower in dark transitions with a 9.70ms boilerplate. This is why IPS monitors tend to be preferred over VA for the best response fourth dimension feel, fifty-fifty if their overall averages appear similar.

Compliance of 100% response time shows this is a true 144Hz monitor and nosotros think at that place is scope to bring this sort of technology much higher in terms of refresh rates. Depending on other factors, response times are good enough for 200 Hz and above.

At 60 Hz, the LG 27GL850 too performs well. The Fast overdrive manner is still the best here, and we get a like iv.49 ms response time average. This puts u.s. well within the range of TN monitors and while overshoot is a petty worse hither than at 144 Hz, it's no big deal.

For input lag, the LG 27GL850 is the second fastest monitor we've tested. You'll detect here nosotros're using a new version of our input lag graph which encompasses the three key components of latency: the processing time of the monitor, the average lag introduced by the refresh rate interval, and the average response time of the panel. At under 10ms of total lag in the chain, the 27GL850 is aristocracy in its latency, and that's thanks to sub-1ms processing lag. It'southward only slightly browbeaten past the Aorus KD25F, which is helped significantly past its 240 Hz refresh rate.

Power consumption is a little higher than other 27-inch monitors we've tested, only overall pretty decent. Certainly power won't be an issue for most people.

Default Color Performance

LG 27GL850 sRGB, tested at native resolution, highest refresh rate
Portrait CALMAN Ultimate, DeltaE Value Target: Below 2.0, CCT Target: 6500K

Grayscale, Saturation and ColorChecker

Allow'southward movement into color operation at present. One of the principal reasons to get an IPS panel over TN or VA is for its best-in-form colors. That's not but in terms of overall color accuracy, simply besides in terms of areas like viewing angles and uniformity, which tend to be fantabulous with IPS monitors and assistance deliver a stunning experience. On peak of this, the 27GL850 is a Nano IPS monitor, touting 98% DCI-P3 coverage which is perfect for broad gamut content. We'll offset hither with a wait at sRGB so discuss how it fares with P3.

Out of the box and in its default configuration, the 27GL850 is rather unimpressive with its grayscale performance. LG hasn't managed to nail the CCT average or the gamma curve with our review unit, leading to a deltaE boilerplate of 3.17. A white bespeak of 6956K indicates the monitor is tinted slightly blue, which you tin can also encounter from the primal graph.

And as expected, this monitor also ships with an unclamped gamut by default, which leads to bad accuracy in our saturation and ColorChecker tests when measuring against sRGB. Nothing here is specially distorted, but y'all will exist getting oversaturation out of the box. A deltaE boilerplate of 3.77 in ColorChecker is fairly typical for a monitor that ships with an unclamped gamut, although the greyscale inaccuracies are also doing their scrap hither. With that said, near gaming monitors fall between a deltaE boilerplate of 3.0 and 4.0 out of the box, and so this is nil unusual.

The 27GL850 also ships with an sRGB mode, but that isn't much ameliorate than the default mode in terms of greyscale. All the same this mode does clamp the gamut, and then nosotros practise go improvements in our saturation sweeps, which are at present down to a deltaE boilerplate of two.xv, and ColorChecker, which at present sits at a ii.1 deltaE average. This is pretty close to accurate, and is similar to LG's included calibration report which targets a deltaE below v.0, a very loose target but a target nevertheless.

sRGB Fashion Colour Performance

Perhaps the biggest disappointment with the sRGB manner is the lack of colour temperature controls. This feature is greyed out, which is fine if the monitor ships with an accurate white point, but ideally you'd still be able to tweak the white betoken in the sRGB manner only to tidy things upwards in case the factory calibration isn't perfect. Unfortunately, this isn't available, so nosotros're left with a choice between using the sRGB mode with a clamped gamut, or going dorsum to the standard mode and fixing upwards the white point with the on screen controls.

You could go either mode, nosotros'll quickly testify you here what tin can be achieved with fixing the white bespeak, which is to say a sub 2.0 greyscale deltaE with similar oversaturation issues. If you want to get the all-time performance out of this monitor, you'll need to perform a full calibration. Nosotros did so, and got sub i.0 deltaE averages across the board, and right saturation. You lot could do this with either the standard or sRGB modes depending on whether yous desire hardware or software sRGB gamut clamping.

Every bit for P3 gamut functioning, similar default greyscale performance when targeting the D65-P3 gamut which we ordinarily practise for desktop use. Saturation performance is amend but information technology'due south not perfect, a deltaE boilerplate of 2.54 is good, but it could exist better. ColorChecker as well, a deltaE average of 2.50 so similar and there are a few loose colors hither.

Calibrated Color Performance

LG 27GL850 sRGB, tested at native resolution, highest refresh rate
Portrait CALMAN Ultimate, DeltaE Value Target: Below 2.0, CCT Target: 6500K

Grayscale, Saturation and ColorChecker

If we tweak the white point in the on screen controls, nosotros're left with decent D65-P3 performance. DeltaE averages below 2.0 across the lath including in the intensive ColorChecker examination, with merely the full scarlet chromacity indicate existence a chip out of whack. This is a strong upshot without calibration, although of grade yous can get sub-i.0 deltaEs with a full calibration like we showed with the sRGB testing.

For overall DCI-P3 coverage I measured 95% which is merely shy of LG'southward claimed 98%, only well around the marker of other wide gamut IPS panels. Several others from LG's own Nano IPS line, like the 34GK950F, are up at the elevation end here equally well.

Max brightness from this monitor is mid-tier, we recorded effectually 350 nits which is right on what LG claims is achievable. However the contrast ratio is weak, after scale nosotros were down at 760:1 which is TN territory. We guess when we said before that this monitor delivers TN-like performance, we weren't just referring to the response times, because the contrast ratio is also quite bad. Normal IPS monitor should be around the 1000:one marking, but there is no doubting here that the 27GL850 has worse black levels.

And it's non similar information technology's the calibration that is affecting performance. We saw a negligible drib to contrast before and later calibration. This ultra fast IPS panel but isn't upward to the standard of other IPS panels when information technology comes to contrast ratio, which is something LG volition need to improve. Luckily, viewing angles are splendid and far meliorate than your typical TN panel, and then it's a valid merchandise-off nonetheless.

Console uniformity is average. The key zone is reasonably uniform but that falls away along the edges. Not quite as proficient equally some of the best IPS monitors we've tested, simply similar to many VA panels. Our unit also had a small amount of IPS glow visible but this didn't affect the experience and was quite hard to notice; it certainly wasn't bad-level IPS glow like you hear nigh.

LG advertises this monitor as HDR10 capable, just make no mistake, this isn't an HDR capable display. It didn't even receive the rubbish-tier HDR400 certification, and that'southward considering both brightness and contrast are nowhere nigh the standard required for HDR400 or fifty-fifty HDR in general.

How Good Is It Really?

Overall we think the LG 27GL850 is one of the best gaming monitors on the market. Make no mistake, it's not a 1ms brandish, merely with an average response fourth dimension of around 4ms, complete with minimal overshoot, no dark level smearing and ultra fast input lag, this is ane of the fastest monitors on the marketplace. It's not quite at the level of the best TN displays, but it steps up the game for IPS and matches some very decent TN monitors we've tested.

We're large fans of 1440p at 144Hz for gaming. Add adaptive sync back up, and the LG 27GL850 is the go-to high-end option for gamers in our opinion. Yeah, the dissimilarity ratio is poor, but it'south no worse than a typical TN panel and you don't go the other problems TN brings similar terrible viewing angles and limited wide gamut capabilities.

In terms of pricing, it's more than affordable than the previous go-to high-end option in the Asus PG279Q. In fact, at less than $500 this won't pause the depository financial institution given the performance you get. We'd also comfortably purchase this over the Gigabyte Aorus AD27QD, which is another pop IPS monitor in this course, often plant at or above $500. Those of you lot wanting to spend less, there are more upkeep witting monitors that are totally serviceable without ultimate performance in that $300 to $400 bracket where we have recommended the likes of the LG 32GK650F, AOC CQ27G1 and Pixio PX329.

Bottom line, the LG 27GL850 gets really close to combining the best features of TN and IPS monitors into the i package, and that'due south enough to deliver a counterbalanced, loftier quality feel for gaming.

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